Notre Dame, Arcadia pull off shockers in beach doubles finals

May 3, 2024 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365


Emma McSorley (left) and Lauren Watson became the first Notre Dame athletes to win first place beach volleyball medals. (Jose Garcia/azpreps365)

Arcadia’s Lane Sheedy and Alexa Helms upset the No. 2 seed in the semifinals.

There’s more. Way more.

In their own semifinal, Notre Dame’s Emma McSorley and Lauren Watson, down 11-6 in the third set, rallied to pull off the biggest shocker of the beach season:

They defeated No. 1 seed Devyn Wiest and Piper Rama 23-21, 22-24, 15-12.

But Sheedy and Helms and McSorley and Watson weren’t done by any stretch Thursday. They proceeded to win the Division I and II beach pairs titles at Casteel to become the first teams to clinch beach volleyball titles for their schools.

Seeded fifth, Notre Dame’s duo took down No. 3 Trinity Tran and Kat MacDonald of Xavier 23-21, 18-21, 18-16 to claim the D-I crown. In the D-II final, Arcadia, the No. 3 seed, handed No. 1 Bella Reyes and Ava Cotton of Saguaro their first defeat of the year 21-17, 13-21, 15-10.

“This is very exciting,” Sheedy said. “But it’s pretty well-deserved, because we put in a lot of time and effort.”

Watson echoed what Sheedy said about winning a doubles title as well.

“It’s so exciting, and I’m really glad we are here,” Watson said. “It was such a battle against Xavier. I’m really glad with the way my partner and I played. I am so overwhelmed with joy.”

The outcomes of the highly competitive D-I and II beach pairs finals were determined by a couple of key moments.

The D-I final was so close that the match didn’t end until the fifth championship point of Game 3. At 14-12, Notre Dame’s McSorley and Watson earned the first attempts to close out the match.

But a Notre Dame service error and Tran kill tied it at 14-14. Tran’s tool box of shots and power were one of the highlights of the match.

Her partner, MacDonald, also stepped up. A dig and kill by MacDonald set up Xavier’s first championship point of the match at 15-14.

But Watson, just a sophomore, wisely and calmly went deep corner to tie Game 3 once again, this time at 15-15. Watson, like Tran, is shorter than her partner but, like Tran, stood tall as well Thursday.

After a court switch, a Tran kill set up Xavier’s second opportunity to end the match. A Watson roll shot for a point, however, knotted Game 3 at 16-16 and sent McSorley back to serve.

The Notre Dame junior then tallied an ace at the perfect time. That was followed by a Watson dig and kill to the right corner to set off her team’s celebration.

“It was all about digging deep and being gritty today,” McSorley said.

Sheedy and Helms had to dig deep as well to defeat teams Thursday, Salpointe’s Megan Muelhebach and Sophia Hernandez and Saguaro’s Reyes and Cotton, that they lost to in the regular season.

Alexa Helms (left) and Lane Sheedy show off their rewards after winning the Division II beach pairs final at Casteel. (Jose Garcia/azpreps365)

Leg cramps affected Sheedy, but Helms was right there to pick her up. Up 9-6 in the third set, Lane caught her breath before delivering an ace down a sideline to help give her team the cushion needed to end the match.

As Arcadia’s team was walking out with their championship medals around their necks, Helms was on the phone with her grandma, Gail.

“A big shoutout to grandma,” Helms said.

A big shoutout also goes to the D-I and II champions that weren’t picked to win but found a way.